San Jose Sharks beat Phoenix Coyotes in shootout

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Sharks' Patrick Marleau gets a pass from Joe Thornton before scoring in the first period at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., on Saturday, March 24, 2012. The San Jose Sharks played the Phoenix Coyotes. (Jim Gensheimer/Staff)

Sharks' Patrick Marleau celebrates his goal on Coyotes' Mike Smith in the first period at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., on Saturday, March 24, 2012. The San Jose Sharks played the Phoenix Coyotes. (Jim Gensheimer/Staff)

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Sharks players mob goalie Antti Niemi after their victory over the Coyotes in the shoot out period at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., on Saturday, March 24, 2012. The San Jose Sharks beat the Phoenix Coyotes, 4-3, in a shoot out. (Jim Gensheimer/Staff)

Sharks' Antti Niemi deflects a shot on goal in the second period at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., on Saturday, March 24, 2012. The San Jose Sharks played the Phoenix Coyotes. (Jim Gensheimer/Staff)

Ryane Clowe survived a slap shot to his noggin, then helped the Sharks survive a close encounter with the Phoenix Coyotes.

With Clowe and Michal Handzus going a perfect two-for-two in the shootout, and goalie Antti Niemi blanking Mikkel Boedker and Ray Whitney, San Jose came away with a 4-3 victory Saturday night at HP Pavilion that kept its playoff hopes from fading in the tight Western Conference race.

Starting the night in 10th place, the Sharks finished it in a three-way tie for eighth with the Los Angeles Kings and Colorado Avalanche with 86 points. San Jose got its regulation goals from Patrick Marleau, Brent Burns and Daniel Winnik while the Coyotes’ scoring came from Daymond Langkow, Derek Morris and Lauri Korpikoski.

The game had the intensity that reflected the fact both teams are competing for the same playoff spots. By picking up one point, Phoenix remained just ahead of the Sharks in seventh place.

“There was a lot of battles, guys going down and stick and pucks in the face,” Clowe said. “There was bodies going everywhere, but I guess it’s what you expect when two teams are fighting for a playoff spot.”

Clowe was parked in front of the net on a power play when he was struck in the front of the helmet by a Burns shot from the blue line. That came shortly after he was hooked awkwardly into the boards by Coyotes center Alexandre Bolduc and then got in the middle of a heated exchange between Jason Demers and Phoenix’s Rostislav Klesla.

On the bench, Clowe was banging his stick and generally in a foul mood before heading off to get treated in the locker room.

“I was boiling up to here before the puck in the head,” Clowe said, holding his hand even with his forehead, “and it probably tipped me over. More than anything, I just didn’t want to have to leave the game. That’s what I was ticked off about.”

Clowe missed several shifts while he applied ice to his head, then returned in the third period.

This one was anything but smooth sailing for the Sharks, who fell behind at 6:31 of the first period when Langkow slipped undetected into the slot and beat Niemi. Marleau broke a personal eight-game scoring drought less than two minutes later, however, and Burns put the Sharks ahead at 17:28 when his shot deflected off a Coyotes defenseman into the Phoenix net.

Sharks came within one-half second of holding onto that 2-1 lead through the end of the first period, but it didn’t come to pass.

In the final ticks of the first period, Marc-Edouard Vlasic twice turned the puck over to the Coyotes, and Morris surprised himself and Niemi by getting the puck in the slot for a quick shot that beat the clock to knot things up at 2-2.

As if a goal in the last second of one period isn’t bad enough, the Sharks also gave up one in the first minute of the third when Korpikoski deflected a pass from Whitney past Niemi at the 49-second mark to give the Coyotes the lead once again.

“We lost some momentum, there’s no doubt about it,” coach Todd McLellan said. “We lost the crowd, and that’s typical Phoenix. They make you pay for your sloppiness.”

And while he didn’t mention Vlasic by name, McLellan did note that “we had some players that we normally rely on to be very steady and more of a calming influence that had some tough games tonight.”

The Sharks regrouped, however, with Winnik scoring his second goal in two games at 5:01 of the second period after going 43 contests without one. All in all, it capped another strong night by the newly created line of Winnik, Andrew Desjardins and Tommy Wingels.

“I thought their line did a tremendous job. … I felt really good about playing them,” said McLellan, who ended up giving more ice time to his fourth line than his third line of Handzus, Torrey Mitchell and Dominic Moore.

McLellan put his emphasis on picking up the two points and didn’t seem to begrudge Phoenix for picking up one.

“We’ll take the two,” he said. “We didn’t play well enough to prevent them from getting one, and on a night when we were almost the ‘Bad News Bears’ there for a little bit, to find a way to get two on one of those nights was important.”

The Sharks have seven games remaining in the season and now trail both Phoenix and the Dallas Stars by one point in the race for the Pacific Division title.

Left wing TJ Galiardi skated Saturday for the first time since suffering the upper back injury that has caused him to miss five games. No timetable was set for his return.

Phoenix captain Shane Doan served the second of his three-game suspension for an elbow to the head of Dallas forward Jamie Benn.

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